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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady speaks at a news conference after the NFL football AFC Championship football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The Ravens defeated the Patriots, 28-13, to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
(Photo by AP)

FOXBOROUGH -- Tom Brady didn't play the best game of his
career Sunday night.

He completed 53
percent of his passes, threw two interceptions and his body language screamed
defeat long before the game was over. Nothing about his performance during New
England 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens suggested that he is one of the best
to ever play the game.

And according
to the Ravens, that's just the way they drew it up. They felt that if they
shutdown the Patriots' running game (New England combined for 108 yards), put
the ball in Brady's hands and created a little pressure (he was hit seven
times), then good things would happen.

"When you get
him off the spot and you hit him, he just turns into just another quarterback,"
linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo told Sirius XM. "Even thought he's one best
quarterbacks to ever play, I don't know how many quarterbacks would be that
good with that much pressure on them and not having a run game."

Typically asking Brady to beat you
spells trouble. But it worked out the Ravens Sunday night.

Here are some
other sound bites from the Ravens' locker room:

S Ed Reed: "We went up
against a great team today. A great organization. They've been champions. I was
standing out in the hallway looking at Super Bowl pictures and the parades. It
was a hard-fought game, and I'm grateful to be on this side of it.''

LB Terrell Suggs: "They
have the right to be (arrogant). You win three titles and have six (five) Super
Bowl appearances with 12 under center, they have the right to be. We respect
them. That is, even enemies can show respect."

LB Ray Lewis: " Honestly,
I just said that God doesn't make mistakes, man. There was no way that he was
going to bring us back here twice to feel the same feeling. He had a real plan
for us the whole year. And that's one thing that I really congratulate my team
by, that we stuck to the course, no matter what happened throughout the year.
It was always 'next man up.' And our locker room, it's contagious. It's
contagious with a certain respect that we have for each other, coaches all the
way down to trainers. It's a great environment to be around. That's probably
the biggest thing I got out of telling them is, 'We're back. We're back, but
this time we're on our way to the Super Bowl.'"